At a private dinner of branzino and salad at Centrolina in Washington this month, Rahm Emanuel offered a dozen of the top Democratic recruits for the U.S. House some guidance for the final fall sprint.
The role was familiar for him. Twenty years ago, Mr. Emanuel led House Democrats’ campaign arm when the party made big gains in red corners of the country.
Now he ticked through how the current environment was “eerily similar” to 2006.
“Unpopular war: check, check,” Mr. Emanuel recounted in a later interview. “Unpopular president: check, check. Massive corruption throughout the system: check, check. Spiking energy prices: check, check.”
As Mr. Emanuel, the longtime Democratic insider, not so quietly explores a run for president in 2028, he has emerged as a behind-the-scenes force in his party’s push to flip the House this fall.
He has made calls to recruit candidates, traveled for events in swing districts, offered private guidance to candidates on campaign ads, events and messaging. He has rolled out alliterative slogans — “greed, grievance and grandeur” is his latest about President Trump — and policy proposals alike. And he speaks regularly with Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, serving as an informal sounding board for the potential next speaker.
“We’re in frequent communication at least every other week,” Mr. Jeffries said in an interview, noting that Mr. Emanuel sometimes provided readouts of how candidates were performing on the trail. “Rahm’s perspective is always thoughtful, frank, insightful and helpful.”
Mr. Emanuel, 66, has as long and varied a résumé as any Democrat. He served in the Clinton White House in the 1990s, as a key congressional lieutenant for Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the 2000s, as the first White House chief of staff for President Barack Obama and later as Chicago mayor.
On Tuesday, Mr. Emanuel is set to host a fund-raiser in Chicago for five women in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Red to Blue” program. He said he hoped to raise $60,000 to $75,000 for each of them this election cycle.
But while Mr. Emanuel has campaigned for multiple House candidates in swing seats, few seemed eager to get on the phone to discuss his exact role.
Denise Powell, a Democrat trying to flip a House seat in Nebraska, said in a statement that she appreciated Mr. Emanuel’s visit with her on a picket line. “Having the support of experienced Democratic leaders like Rahm — people who know how to win tough fights — has been invaluable,” she said.
Some progressives cast doubt on any insights from a Democrat who is the opposite of a fresh face and who works for a Wall Street firm.
“He’s like the political equivalent of Windows 95 — an operating system without an application in the modern era,” said Maurice Mitchell, the national director of the Working Families Party, a progressive group. “I don’t know what counsel he has to offer people who are running in competitive elections in 2026.”
For his part, Mr. Emanuel said he had a history of winning. And while he did not shy away from the fact that fresh alliances he is forging in these House races could help him if he does, in fact, run for president in 2028, he was also clear that his efforts were not driven by higher ambitions.
“When I got up in Western Michigan to fly out to Summit, N.J., at 4:30 in the morning — that ain’t what it is,” he said of appearing with battleground House candidates like Sean McCann in Michigan and Rebecca Bennett in New Jersey. “I’m not saying it’s zero. But it is not a hundred percent. It’s not even 50 percent.”
‘Chemistry for a Wave’
When Mr. Emanuel returned from a stint as ambassador to Japan under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in early 2025, he reached out to Mr. Jeffries and offered to help recapture the House in any way possible.
“It’s very simple,” Mr. Emanuel said. “We win the House and it’s the first day of the end of the Trump presidency, and it is the most important thing to do.”
Right now, he projected that Democrats would pick up a “low end” of 10 to 12 seats this fall, and on the “high end, 15 to 17.”
“Independents are breaking our way,” he said. “There’s a low turnout among Republicans. That is a chemistry for a wave. That’s the law of physics. That is what determined ’94. That is what determined ’06. That is what determined ’08. That is what determined 2010. That is what determined 2018.”
He is tapping an unrivaled Rolodex to ensure Democrats maximize their chances, estimating that he texts and talks with, on average, around 70 people a day. “It can go three figures,” he said.
The interactions often put a premium on efficiency.
“Talking to Rahm, it’s like middle-age married sex,” said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster who has known him for decades. “It’s focused. You know what you’re going for. And it’s short.”
For Love of the Game
At times, speaking with Mr. Emanuel can feel like watching a comedian workshop his material, making sure the lines land just right.
“He gets an arch — and you can’t afford a meal at the Golden Arch.”
“He gets a $450 million plane — you get $4.50 of gas.”
Then Mr. Emanuel explains why he phrased it exactly that way.
“You’ve got to drive the corruption and the greed into people’s own wallet,” he said of how Democrats should frame the Trump agenda. “It’s not just that he’s getting rich. You’re getting poor.”
Other potential 2028 candidates would begin the race with clearer constituencies. He hasn’t won an election since before Mr. Trump’s first term — and it was for municipal office. Still, few can match the sheer number of Mr. Emanuel’s reps in the political game.
The first of his nearly 4,000 appearances in the pages of The New York Times came way back in 1987, when he made a cameo in an article as a young strategist for House Democrats’ campaign arm. He was advising political action committees on where to send their money.
“Yes, people could graduate, I suppose,” he said of his enduring passion for working on House races. He added: “Maybe this is my postdoctoral work. Maybe I did my B.A. and I’m working on my postdoctorate?”
So what part of politics does he like the most?
“I like it all,” Mr. Emanuel said, before stopping himself. “I mean, I don’t want to say that.”
But he just did?
“No,” Mr. Emanuel corrected. “I cut myself off.”
Allies in Alliteration
Mr. Emanuel’s disdain for his party’s left flank is palpable. Democratic socialists, he said, don’t even belong in the party until they reverse their positions on key issues.
“Some people want to do oligarchy tours,” he said, nodding to the rallies held last year by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. “I want do majority tours. That’s what I’m doing with my time.”
For months, Mr. Emanuel has been unveiling plans — either for his party to take up or, maybe, for him to promote during a presidential run.
Some aim to tap into the same populist anger the left has sought to harness, minus the progressivism. He called last year for the United States to ban social media for those under 16. And in Texas this past week, he released a five-point plan to counter corruption in Washington (the proposals included no stock trading, no prediction-market trading, and mandatory retirement at 75).
Mr. Emanuel has also rolled out a series of education proposals, including on early childhood reading and higher education, hoping Democrats can reclaim their traditional edge on the issue.
He has honed catchphrases, too.
In May 2025, he wrote that Democrats could win against Mr. Trump by focusing on “three C’s: corruption, chaos and cruelty.” A few weeks earlier, Mr. Jeffries had used similar wording — “chaos, cruelty and corruption” — at a news conference about the administration’s first 100 days.
“Let’s just say there was creative tension,” Mr. Emanuel said. “I used it on CNN once, but I’ll let — it’s his, he’s a leader.”
Both men have since moved on. Mr. Emanuel now has his “greed, grievance and grandeur” line. For his part, Mr. Jeffries said, “The phrase that we’ve been using from the beginning has been cost, care and combating corruption.”
Mr. Emanuel, when told by a reporter that he seemed to be constantly tinkering with his message, replied, “Who doesn’t?”
But few do it this much.
“Well, OK, I have a degenerate — I’m on the spectrum, OK?” he said. “I’m self-aware. I am on the spectrum!”
And with that he was off to his next appointment.
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